The Unchanging Sky
by girlwhodoesthedishes
Summary: He is alone, he is indifferent and he is different. He WAS alone, he WAS indifferent but he is still different. A new boss, new guardians, and a new story. [Story follows after canon; the life of the son of Sawada Tsunayoshi.]
1. Chapter 1

1.

A slight chill in the air and the smell of the moist earth; the fragile peace around him, if he tried; he would be able to hear the flapping of bird wings, taking flight into the air. There was something about this atmosphere Nanao finds himself addicted to, where he could lie down, close his eyes and become ignorant of everything around him. Yet, there would always be something soon after, that would break this peace he had carefully created in his mind. Yes, just like how his father had; which is exactly why he now finds himself standing before the door that would lead him to his savior. Nanao had a feeling that even running away from the topic his father had brought up would not prevent it from being brought up again, but at the very least; it would postpone it, and for now, it was enough.

"Nanao kun?" His mother opened the door, looking as if she had been expecting him. Sometimes, his mother's instincts scare him. "The door's not going to open by itself, you know." She giggled softly before pulling him into the spacious room.

"Do you have time to talk right now, mama?" Nanao asked, as he sat opposite his mother who had already begun pouring tea for him.

"Of course!" Kyoko, his mother answered brightly with a just as bright smile. Nanao duly noted that the smile seemed a bit different than the others, and concluded that she probably knew why he was there. "What is it?"

"Are you aware as to why papa decided to have a talk with me?" Nanao glanced sideways in time to see an almost perfectly concealed twitch from his mother, "Would you like to hear my opinion in regards to that topic?" Kyoko sighed and shook her head,

"I'm sure Tsu kun had somewhat expected this reaction from you, Nanao kun." Kyoko smiled and walked up to her desk; pulling something out from the drawers. "I'll miss you, but I know this will be helpful to you in the future." She sighed as she handed over the box to Nanao. Confused, he opened it and once again glanced up at his mother.

"Mama, this is-"

"It's a secret." She winked at him, "Papa doesn't know of this." Lying innocently on his lap; was a letter, a ticket to Japan and cash in its currency. "Take some time away from here, Nanao kun, I'm sure the answer will find its way to you."

"It's not going to take long before papa finds out, you know." Nanao bluntly pointed out, with his father's intuition, Nanao estimates a maximum of 24 hours before he finds out where he's gone. _But, it is more than enough time to leave the country._ A voice told him. As if she had heard it, Kyoko gave him a grin that reminded him of a child about to do something cheeky.

"With this, in an hour; you will be out of the country. So, what do you think?" Kyoko smiled at him. It didn't take long for Nanao to decide, right from the beginning he had planned on leaving this place, perhaps leaving the country was not what he had in mind originally; but this was fine as well. He nodded,

"Thank you, mama."

"You're welcome, Nanao kun. A pissed off Tsu kun will be amusing." Kyoko clapped her hands together. For once, Nanao pitied his father, despite appearances; his mother can be quite mischievous sometimes. He left the room to start packing for his escape, but not before giving his mother a grateful hug.

Thus, Sawada Nanao finds himself standing in front of a household; to which his mother claims it belonged and still does, to the Sawada family. Key in hand, Nanao slips the key in, turning the door knob after hearing the click. Despite being unoccupied over the years, both indoor and outdoor seem to be in top condition, Nanao observed, concluding that despite living overseas in Italy, his father much have hired someone to take care of the place. Well, not that he's complaining. Nanao shrugged off the thought as he dropped off his luggage's to continue with his observations. The bathroom, although clearly unused, was clean with every necessary item within it. Curious, Nanao made his way to the kitchen and opened the still operating fridge. _Seriously? Does papa pay the bills despite living overseas?_ Inside, stored food that has yet to expire in a month and Nanao concluded that the care-taker must have recently dropped by. _That ticks the bothersome grocery shopping off the list._ There was even laundry hanging out in the balcony, taking note that someone may be coming back to take them back inside Nanao decided to start off by taking his belongings upstairs. He entered a room his mother had told him to stay in; apparently being his father's room and began settling in.

It was about 5pm that same day, as shown from the digital clock on his desk, when he heard a click from the front door; indicating that someone had opened it with a key. Although, Nanao remained careful as he made his way quietly down the stairs.

"Nanao san?" The voice started off by startling him with the fact that this person knew his name, "Nanao san? My name is Sasagawa; I was placed in charge as this household's care taker. This morning I received a message from Sawada Kyoko san to notify me of your arrival." Still weary, Nanao walked into the living room to where the male was, "Oh, there you are." A grin bright enough to light the room greeted Nanao, resulting in his narrowing his eyes a bit. He took a moment to observe that this so called 'caretaker' seem to be not much older than himself. Taller, yes; as Nanao had always been on the smaller end. He also had a large body as the male probably does a sport of some sort. "My father was originally the one who was assigned to this job. But he gets caught up with work some times, so whenever that happens, I take over for him." The taller male explained, answering Nanao's unspoken questions. Nanao stared at the hand offered to him after before looking back up at Sasagawa, "Let's get along." Nanao so sorely wanted to tell the other that he had no intention of 'getting along' with anyone, but deemed it a waste of energy before taking the other's hand in his and giving a small nod. "I see you already took down the laundry." Sasagawa observed, "You shouldn't have, it's my job after all. I get paid to do this, remember?" He grinned at him, "Ah well, how about I make dinner?"

"I thought you were a household caretaker." Sasagawa glanced back at him from the fridge,

"I am." He replied simply, and continued searching the fridge for whatever he was searching for.

"Does that include cooking meals?" Nanao drawled from the door,

"Nope." Sasagawa, after finally finding what he was looking for, stood up and walked over to the sink as he started preparing for the meal. "Let's just say, I feel bad for not being able to do what I came here for, and don't want to return home feeling like so. So!" He pointed a carrot at Nanao, as if to prove a point. To which Nanao simply raised a brow, "I'm making dinner to make up for it." Having failing in finding right words to respond to that statement, Nanao simply observed from where he stood. "Plus," The other continued as he moved about in the kitchen, "I want to get along with you." At this, Nanao unfolded his arms,

"Why?" He asked, taking a few steps into the dining room and leaned against the fridge to have better view of the male who had already begun cooking. "You barely know me."

"Huh?" Sasagawa cocked his head to a side, as if confused. "You don't need to know someone to want to get along with that person. That comes _after_ getting along with someone!" Nanao frowned, that _literally_ did not make sense. But Sasagawa had gone back to his cooking and Nanao simply found it too bothersome to continue with this conversation.

"Do what you want." He simply told him before he started returning to his room upstairs.

Peace did not last as Sasagawa dragged the smaller boy down the stairs and literally sat him down on one of the chairs before placing the plate of food in front of him.

"Go on!" Sasagawa urged him; Nanao glanced at Sasagawa before pointing at him.

"Where's yours?" To which the other blinked back at him, "Aren't you going to eat too? You did make it." Nanao elaborated, thinking that the other had failed to interpret his words.

"I didn't think you'd like it so I didn't serve mine." Sasagawa gave a crooked grin, "I was going to eat after you." It took a moment let those words sink in before Nanao let out a sigh as he got up to serve the other his share. "Thanks." Sasagawa grinned, "You're a nice guy!" He suddenly placed a hand on his shoulder as he continued, "I've decided! Let's be friends! Call me Yuuji from now on!" After that, Sasagawa had refused Nanao's refusal at this friend thing and Nanao had to go through another 2 hours of torture before the other finally decided it was late enough and went home, but not before another 10 minutes of enthusiastic rounds of loud ramblings from the other that made no sense. He was beginning to think whether coming here was a good idea after all.

[]

"Hey there newbie." The said 'newbie', Nanao, raised his head to look at the culprit who had forced his attention away from his book, and found himself looking into a pair of clear veal orbs; cheerful and innocent. "Come on!" The other offered a hand to him with a bright smile, and when there was no response; he leaned in and took said Nanao's hand in his and began dragging him out of the class. "Sawada Nanao, was it? My name is Ryuuichi, by the way, Yamamoto Ryuuichi. Say, how about it, up for a game baseball?"

"…" Nanao wondered if he'd ever find peace in this noisy school, how many times has it been since someone had tried to make 'conversation' with him? Has he not made it clear enough that he wanted to be alone to read in peace? Why do they insist on pretending to be friendly? "Not interested."

"Aw, come on! It's really fun; you'll get hooked in no time!" The male continued, and Nanao sighed as he realized, h_e's the type who can't take no for an answer, huh._

"I said-"

"Here we are! Guys! I brought a friend!" The others on the field turned their attention from their game and onto Nanao, eyes immediately beginning to fill with curiosity; some were a bit wearier than the others but nonetheless they all greeted him with enthusiasm. He had let Yamamoto pull him away from the classroom and into the field, but now that he was here; he felt ten times for exhausted than when he was forced do runs around his home back in Italy. And his home's territory was not something to laugh at.

"So this is the new famous transfer student, huh. Not every day we get a transfer student this time of the year." One said, sizing him up as he did so. "Not bad. You seem like a fast runner."

"That's the captain of the team, Hyuuga, a third year." Yamamoto quietly introduced said captain.

"So, are you up for a game?" Hyuuga jutted a thumb in the direction behind him,

"I'll pass, thanks." The baseball captain glanced at Yamamoto before breaking into a grin,

"Come on, don't be shy!" He said as he dragged Nanao towards the field even as the smaller boy dug his heels into the ground. _Can no one here take no for an answer?_ Nanao briefly wondered as he gave into the fate that this would probably not be the last time something like this would happen. And thus, Nanao found himself going against all his beliefs on energy conserving as he stood with a bat in hand while the pitcher; who ended up being the captain himself, got ready. After a quick internal debate with himself, Nanao decided that it was futile to try and walk away from this. It was also a waste of energy to go against the flow right now.

"Are you ready, newbie?" Taking up his position, Nanao gave the barest of a nod before he felt wind brush by his cheeks and the ball already inside the gloves of the catcher behind him. "Strike one, newbie." Hyuuga grinned at him. Taking up his position once more, Nanao concentrated. This time he watched as the ball fly past him, his muscles twitched but unable to catch up to the speed of the ball. "Strike two." Nanao narrowed his eyes at the grinning captain, and once again readied himself. _There's no point in trying to _see_ the ball if you can't._ He told himself, _calm down and do what you _can_ do. The slightest sound, the slightest change in the air, and lastly..._ His arms moved, swinging the bat in his hands as hard and as fast as he could before he felt an impact hit the steel. He opened his eyes, and stared into the eyes of many surprised faces before allowing a small smile change his ever unchanging features. _Intuition._

[]

"That was amazing Nanao!" Said boy's brow twitched at the familiarity from the taller boy, Yamamoto. "You're probably one of the first to hit senpai's fast pitch first time round!"

"Yamamoto..." Nanao resisted the urge to massage his temples as the headache from last night was beginning to act up again,

"Mm?"

"I have no intentions of-"

"Oh! Sawada!" Oh, someone up there really hates him. "What a coincident, to attend the same school as each other!"

"Oh, you are… The second year boxing club's captain?"

"Oh! Aren't you the rumored baseball prodigy?" Yamamoto gave a nervous laugh,

"Prodigy is a bit..."

"Oh, don't be humble my friend! Even in the boxing club, you're famous! I'd love it if you could join in on one of our club activities!"

"You're quite the famous one as well, senpai. Earning a spot in the nationals in just your first year. Everyone in the baseball club is-" Nanao had stopped listening, but he didn't stop _walking_, so by the time he turned at the corner; the much too loud voices had stopped reaching his poor ears. Reaching the top of the building and to the rooftop, Nanao found sanctuary. As he found himself a shady spot, he sat down and pulled out his book. Really, he hadn't even gone past the second chapter with all the distractions.

[]

"Have you found him?" Hyuuga huffed irritably, resting his hands on his hips to catch his breath. He had been running about to find that newbie from this morning's break.

"No, I wonder where he went." Yamamoto sighed as he shook his head, "He slipped off while I was talking to Sasagawa senpai."

"I knew it! That guy is the best!" Sasagawa laughed enthusiastically, having made no move to find the smaller male.

"Perhaps we should leave him be for a while." Yamamoto suggested, "I'm sure he'll show up again when he's ready. He really didn't seem like the type to like being around too many people."

"Isn't that why you invited him to a game of baseball?" Hyuuga huffed again,

"Well, yeah." Yamamoto grinned, scratching the side of his cheeks; embarrassed he'd been figured out. "I just didn't think it would be right to leave a newly transferred student to be alone on his first day."

"You're quite right, Yamamoto!" Sasagawa patted him on the back roughly as he said so, "But I agree with Yamamoto that even though he's unsociable, we should allow him to spend time by himself. Don't want to overwhelm the poor kid, do we now?" He laughed, leaving the two as he walked down the stairs.

"I guess he has a point." Hyuuga finally said, after mentally shaking off the feeling that he'd been basking in the sun for too long. "But make sure you invite him back for another game. That guy runs off at the sight of me." Yamamoto nodded, watching Hyuuga leave.

[Meanwhile, back in Italy]

Tsuna sighed, pressing his thumb against his temple as he fruitlessly tried to massage away the headache. The entire headquarters is in havoc as they tried searching every room and hole in the building to find Nanao. He'd told them many times, that no matter how long they search for, they would most likely not find the boy. That only leaves one thing.

"Tsu kun? What's wrong?" His wife, Kyoko, asked all too merrily; seeming to enjoy this chaos more than she should.

"Kyoko chan." Tsuna sighed, "Be honest with me."

"Of course! What is it, Tsu kun?" At this, Tsuna looked up to meet Kyoko's eyes, "Do you know anything about Nanao's disappearance?"

"Yes, I do." Kyoko smiled back at him, unaffected by the groaned Tsuna let out as she replied him honestly.

"Where?"

"Will you be going after him?" Kyoko asked instead,

"Of course I will, he's-"

"Not ready yet." She cut him off and Tsuna paused,

"I know, but-"

"Why not leave him be for a while?" Kyoko suggested, placing a hand gently on his own.

"She has a point, _dame_ Tsuna." Startled, Tsuna narrowed his eyes at his home tutor leisurely standing at the back of the room.

"Can you knock before entering?" Reborn scoffed,

"You should realize by now that I am above that." He returned as he adjusted his shirt, "Back to the topic on Nanao," After finally finding a spot on the single sofa and crossing his legs as if he owned the place; a gesture Tsuna was all too used to. "I can venture a guess as to where you sent him, Kyoko, and I'm sure _dame_ Tsuna as well." Kyoko giggled when Tsuna dropped his head on the table with a groan,

"Then what should I do?" He all but whined. Getting up, Reborn walked up to Tsuna and with a quick motion, flicked his forehead; sending the other's head back up.

"Don't whine, that's unbecoming of a boss, I'm certain I've taught you better than that." As Tsuna nursed the pain on his forehead, Reborn had returned to the sofa. "Leave him for now." He raised a hand, silencing the protest Tsuna was about to say. "Not unguarded, of course." The smirk on Reborn had Tsuna pulling back a little,

"What are you planning?"

"How uncouth, Tsuna." Reborn's smirk grew, watching his ex-student pale. "To think that this is the image you have of me. Of course I'm planning something. I always am."

"Yes." Tsuna returned carefully, his eyes flickered to the door; most likely planning on how long it'd take him to take both Kyoko and himself and flee the room. "But _what_ are you planning?" He asked again,

"Silly Tsuna, the fun is entrusted to you _finding_ out what it is. Don't worry, leave this matter to me. I promise you won't be disappointed."

"Let us pray for the safety of our son." Tsuna finally said after Reborn left the room, his hands pressed together in a prayer.

[]

"Tenth!" The door to the office flew off its hinges,

"Gokudera kun," Tsuna sighed as he went back to his paperwork, "I just had that door fixed."

"Oh, my apologies! But I heard that Nanao disappeared? Is it an enemy? If so, I'll take down whoever it is!" He exclaimed as he pulled out his weapons, vigorously looking about the room as if expecting an enemy to jump out at him.

"Gokudera kun, relax." Tsuna sighed again, "There's no enemy here. I've left this case to Reborn already."

"Oh." Gokudera relaxed a bit, "If it's Reborn san, then I'm sure Nanao will be safe." Tsuna nodded,

"How did the job go, Gokudera kun? No troubles, I hope?"

"It was a smooth job, Tenth! No worries there." Gokudera diligently reported, "You look tired, Tenth." He observed, "Are you resting enough?"

"I'm fine, Gokudera kun. You've done well completing the job. Make sure to take your well deserved rest." Dismissed, Gokudera hesitantly left the room, after giving Tsuna one last concerned look; he picked up the door he destroyed and placed it back in an attempted to 'close the door'. Tsuna picked up the receiver of the phone before dialing a number,

"Oh, Giannini? I apologize for taking you away from what you're working on, but are you able to send someone to fix my door? Yes, Gokudera kun just returned from his job. Yes, yes, thank you."

"Working hard, Tsuna?" Reborn entered the room, again by kicking the door down. "I see Gokudera has returned." He concluded.

"Yes." Tsuna sighed, he has been sighing much too frequently these days.

"I've prepared a list of possible candidates as Nanao's guard." Tsuna flipped through the file handed to him before paling,

"A list? There's only one here." Tsuna pointed out,

"Exactly" Reborn smirked, "So, your decision?"

"I don't seem to have much of a choice here, do I?"

"Nope." Taking the file back, Reborn tipped his fedora in a mock salute.

"Normally I'd question selecting someone like that, but I trust you. Do as you like, Reborn." An elegant brow rose at him,

"Of course I will," Reborn returned with a smirk, "I always do." Rolling his eyes earned him a smack on the head before Reborn continued, "I will head to Japan myself as well. This way, you have no complaints right?"

"No. I've entrusted this task to you, so I will not question your actions."

"Not as if you can do much even if you do." Reborn smirked before exiting the room, leaving an exasperated Tsuna in the office. _Now,_ Reborn straightened his suit as he stood in front of the Vongola private jet, _shall we see if you are worthy of my attention, Sawada Nanao._

[]

Nanao didn't think it was possible to be this exhausted in just one day, he'd like to think this was due to jet lag; but he doubted it. He had been chased around school by Hyuuga in an attempt to get him to join the baseball club; then with Sasagawa seeing this; also tried to recruit him into the boxing club. Yamamoto remained on the sidelines, with a smile on his face. Even now, he turned whatever energy he had left to the two following behind, he's not alone. _They really have no intentions of leaving me alone, huh._ Nanao mentally cursed whoever above was watching and enjoying this.

"Nanao!" Reining back his frustrations, Nanao turned to face Sasagawa.

"What is it?"

"You look tired," W_hose fault is that?_ "You haven't been staying up late, have you?"

"No, I haven't."

"Must be the jet lag." Yamamoto concluded, "Maybe we should postpone our visit to next time, Senpai."

"Oh! You're right, Yamamoto. We'll walk you home and leave you to rest after, Nanao! Can't have a newbie walk home alone now, can we?"

"Yup!" Yamamoto agreed.

"Thanks." Nanao simply said as he continued walking.

"Now that I think about it, Nanao's name sounds feminine at first but if you read the _kanji_, it's actually pretty cool!"

"Oh?" Sasagawa turned his head to Yamamoto, "Oh! That's right; you're in the same class as Nanao!"

"Yup! Nanao's name is _kanji_ to spelt as 'seven' for Nana, and 'king' for o! Pretty awesome right?" There was a moment of silence as Sasagawa absorbed the information before breaking into a wide grin,

"You're right!" Sasagawa patted Nanao on the back as he exclaimed; "Aren't you happy?" Even as Nanao did everything he could to ignore this conversation.

"You're late." A new voice interrupted them and they simultaneously turned their attention to the originator of the voice.

"Someone you know, Nanao?" Despite their usual cheerfulness, Yamamoto sounded cautious making sure to take a step forward so that he stood a little in front of Nanao. Sasagawa did the same. Nanao took that moment to do what he was good at, observe. The man was either around his late twenties or early thirties, wearing a black and orange fedora and an all-black suit. But it wasn't his just his style of fashion that caught Nanao's attention, but rather something else. There was something about this man that put Nanao on edge, he felt his muscles tense and ready. There was also a sense of familiarity to this man, like he'd seen him before.

"So, will you be a disappointment, or another intriguing project for me to work on? Shall we test that now?" The man smirked, pushing his fedora up as he took a step forward. Yamamoto and Sasagawa both instinctively took one back, gently forcing Nanao to do the same as the backed into him. "Impressive." He heard the man murmur. "Two already." Then there was a deep chuckle before the man disappeared before them, and reappearing behind Nanao, whose reaction was a second too slow and only made it as far and turning slightly towards the man before he was flung towards the street pole.

"Nanao!" Yamamoto and Sasagawa called out, before they too, were flung off to the side of the street.

"Impressive," The man said again, "Being able to keep up with this speed." Nanao grunted as he recovered from the impact, forcing himself to stand up again. "But not good enough, better than your father though, I must say." Nanao felt an eye twitch, "I'm not talking bad about your father." The man smirked, slipping his hands in his pockets; as if reading his thoughts. "I was merely speaking out my observations."

"Guh…"

"Yamamoto, Sasagawa." Nanao drawled, though his eyes remained trained on the man. "Alright there?"

"Ah…" Sasagawa was the first to recover, "What was that about?"

"I couldn't even react to it, much less keep up with that speed." Yamamoto seemed fine as well, "You alright, Nanao?"

"Yes." Nanao returned, "I think it's best if the two of you leave now."

"What!"

"No way!" They both exclaimed, jumping back up on their feet. "We're not leaving you, especially now!"

"Yamamoto? Sasagawa?" The man turned his head back to the two with a slight tilt to his head, indicating confusion; before turning back to Nanao with a wider smirk. "So I see. Such coincidence is hard to come by." He commented as he walked towards Nanao. Feeling like a prey in the presence of a predator, every muscle in Nanao's body tensed, readying for defense and need be, attack. There was a further widening of the smirk as if provoking Nanao to attack, as it saying; _come and get me, if you can, that is._ But Nanao was never one to be easily provoked; he forced his heart's beating to calm down. If he's panicking then it will show in both his defense and attacks, he will need to calm down in order to avoid that. He knows this but… The man suddenly turned his attention to Yamamoto, moving as fast as he had before. Never before had Nanao panicked like so, his body seemed to move on its own accord as he rushed towards Yamamoto. His arms taking up a defense position, barely making in time before the man's kick hit him. Nanao was once again flung off due to the impact, his back hitting the brick wall that belonged to a household.

"Nanao!"

"I'm alright." Nanao tried to say, to calm the usually cheerful and energetic two who're panicking beside him. Careful hands tried to determine how bad his injuries were, they were shaking. Fear, the always cheerful and energetic pair of idiots were afraid. His mind told him to get a grip, to hurry and get back up. To ease the worry from those idiots. But his body refused to listen, refused to even twitch a muscle.

"What the hell do you want?" He heard Sasagawa confront the man, he wanted to stop him. To tell him that it was an idiotic and dangerous thing to do, but he couldn't. Unable to do anything; _helpless_. Unable to even protect the few by his side; _powerless_.

"Guh…" His body screaming at him to stay still, that they were severely injured and in pain but he didn't listen to them. Right now, that's not important. "S-Sasagawa, stop."

"Nanao?" Immediately by his side, he helped Yamamoto support Nanao's wrecked body.

"I must say." The man started, enjoying this far too much. He was beginning to lose whatever conscious he had gripped tightly by his will alone, "I am very much _impressed_." Was all he heard; before he found himself answering to the blissful darkness that awaited him.

[]

"What a boring face." A voice drawled, momentarily distracting Tsuna from his worries.

"Oh, welcome back, Hibari san."

"Hm." Hibari walked up to his desk before dropping a file along with an object down,

"Thanks for doing this Hibari san."

"If you're really thankful," Hibari started before pulling out his tonfas, "Then fight me."

"Sorry," Tsuna groaned, "I don't think I'll make an interesting opponent for you right now." Hibari frowned as his eyes narrowed, unimpressed.

"I get to be the judge of that."

[]

Gokudera, along with Lambo rushed to the combat room after hearing that Tsuna entered the room with Hibari. Lambo had decided to follow thinking it would be interesting to see the two of them fight each other while Gokudera was worried sick about Tsuna getting hurt.

"Your movements are dull, herbivore."

"Ugh! I told you!" Tsuna shouted as he dodged backwards to avoid a concussion, "That I wouldn't be a good enough opponent!" A flame lit fist landed a hit to one of the tonfas before Hibari lifted a leg to attempt kicking Tsuna, succeeding in backing Tsuna to a wall.

"And I said," Hibari returned calmly, as he took his time walking towards Tsuna; like a predator. His head tilted slightly to a side, "That _I_ will be the one to judge that."

"And your evaluation would be?" Tsuna huffed, taking another step back until his back finally touched the wall behind him.

"Dull." Hibari drawled as he lifted up an arm, Tsuna gritted his teeth preparing himself for a world of pain when cold metal touched his forehead. He opened his eyes to see Hibari using his forehead to rest his tonfa as he leaned in towards Tsuna, "So hurry up and wipe that dull face off." Blinking away confusion, Tsuna found himself left alone in the half destroyed combat room before Gokudera and Lambo rushed in.

"Tenth! Are you injured? Damn, that Hibari."

"I'm fine, Gokudera kun." Tsuna placed a hand on his shoulder in an attempt to calm the other down, proving to be a good gesture as Gokudera calmed down visibly.

"Are you serious? This is a room reinforced by both Giannini and Spanner, it's half destroyed!"

"Giannini is going to faint from this, isn't he?" Gokudera grinned while Tsuna groaned, having let himself get carried away in the heat of the moment. "But it sure is rare to have Hibari back off like so." Gokudera observed,

"Now that you mention it," Lambo hummed thoughtfully, "You're right. Did you say something to him, Tsuna?" Tsuna shook his head,

"I don't think so." _Which made it even more confusing_, Tsuna noted.

"Anyway, there's no way of understanding that man so no point in being concerned about his actions, Tenth! I hear you haven't been taking regular breaks and meals, that's hardly good for your health. From now on, I will having meals with you and Lambo will be in charge of making sure you take your breaks." Looking up at Gokudera and then to Lambo, Tsuna couldn't help the smile the lit up his tired face.

"Thanks guys."

"Boss." A gentle knock before a quiet voice greeted him,

"Chrome," Tsuna smiled, "What's wrong?" Chrome looked away shyly before handing him an envelope,

"It's addressed to you, Spanner told me to hand it over to you."

"Oh, thanks, Chrome." The petite girl shook her head before giving him the barest of a smile, turning to leave the room. "Oh and…" Tsuna stopped her before he fully left the room, "You seem well today, make sure to keep up with your meals and rest every day."

"Yes, boss." Chrome nodded, "You too."

"_**Dame**_** Tsuna,"** The letter began, emitting a sigh from Tsuna as he shook his head. Will he ever live that nickname down? He didn't think so. Unknowingly a smile was already on his face as he continued reading,

"**I'm sure you're worried sick about how things are going on over here."**

"That's right, you sadistic overgrown man. What took you so long?" Tsuna grumbled to no one in particular even as his eyes had already started moving on to the next line.

"**I purposely waited for this long, that's why."**

ESPer?!

"**I'm not ESPer, just too awesome."**

Right, that's what he said.

"**Anyway, back on the topic. Nanao is even more than what I had initially expected. Why have you hid this kid away from me for this long?"**

"It's because you never stayed long enough for me to introduce him to you." Tsuna found himself answering out loud. "And you did meet him, once."

"**Don't talk back at me, **_**dame**_** Tsuna."**

Tsuna read through the rest of the letter, occasionally grumbling and complaining about Reborn's comments. He had expected Reborn to make his appearance grand and flashy but attacking his son out of the blue? He had forgotten to mention that his son had taken up a self defense course a while back, but Reborn's surprise was more than worth the torture he will eventually be going through when he gets back. But what surprised him even more was the other two mentioned in the letter that was with Nanao at that time. Picking up the phone, he dialed a nostalgic number.

"Yes, this is the Yamamoto household."

"Ah, Yamamoto?" There was a moment of silence before a familiar laugh came through the line,

"Tsuna? What's up? Tell me you're not bored enough in Italy to have time to call me at this hour." Oh, he'd forgotten about the time difference.

"Sorry, I forgot."

"No, it's alright. I hope it's not what I'm thinking of though." Tsuna chuckled,

"No trouble this time, Yamamoto. Just a few questions though."

[]

"Oh! Sawada! It's been a while! How are you to the extreme!" Tsuna had the receiver away from his ears, being so used to Sasagawa Ryohei's unusually… enthusiastic voice.

"I'm well here. And you?"

"I've always been top condition to the extreme, Sawada!"

"Even at this time of the day, huh." Tsuna smiled into the receiver, a warm feeling bubbling inside him; glad that although apart, his friends were the same as always.

"You bet I am! So what's up, Sawada? You didn't call at this time of the day for a nice chat, did you? If you did, I'll happily comply to the extreme!"

"I'd love to. But this time I called with a few questions in mind."

[]

He was being pulled away, forcefully too. It was an unrelenting force pulling him away from where he was laying comfortably. He didn't want to leave, he felt _so_ tired. So exhausted, so… _sore_? Nanao opened his eyes to a familiar ceiling, he didn't move; only using his senses to feel his surroundings. He was alone in the room, but not _alone_. Downstairs, there was a faint sound of metal clinking against the stone surface of the kitchen table, muffled voiced and… barely audible shuffling of feet.

"I see you're awake." At the sound of the voice, Nanao sprung up from his bed; instincts telling him this was at the very least, was _not_ supposed to be in the building. But a sharp pain from different parts of his body forced him to tumble down onto the floor, "It seems I pushed my greeting too far." A hand reached out in an attempt to help him up, but Nanao slapped it away; backing up as much as possible to get a better view of everything around him. The man smirked, tucking his hands in his pockets. "I apologize. I seem to have less control over my awesome strength than I originally had thought I had." Nanao resisted the urge to growl at the man,

"Your face implies everything _but_ apologetic."

"Hn. You will learn eventually that I am above that." The man bent up slowly, as if trying to not frighten the small animal before sitting on the floor himself. Nanao narrowed his eyes, as the exit had been blocked off as a result. "My name is Reborn." It was a familiar name. "I was your father's home tutor when he was your age." He handed a flimsy and obviously handmade card to Nanao, who cautiously took it. Sending another glance at the man before looking at what was given to him. It was a plain paper, cut into the size of a typical card with the words: **[HOME TUTOR REBORN]**. Nanao glanced back at Reborn with a brow raised in question,

"You wrote this by hand?" Reborn lifted his head slightly,

"Yes. And your head should be on the floor thanking me for even bothering with such trivial actions."

"Right," He handed back the 'card', "No thanks, I'm not interested."

"You don't get to refuse here." Reborn simply shot down his refusal, "_No one_ refuses me. From here on until I say so, I will be observing your daily life. In order to train you to be the next boss, I first need to observe who you are as a person, and to observe the people around you. And as for now," He added when Nanao tried to speak up, "You will have dinner. Sasagawa and Yamamoto are both downstairs waiting."

"Nanao!" Yamamoto first noticed him and rushed to his side, "Are you alright?" He asked as he glanced sideway to Reborn,

"I am." Nanao simply replied,

"Oh! Nanao! You're awake. Good timing! I just finished!" To which Nanao sent to weary glance at Reborn, he had the feeling that if he had no woken up when he had; he was going to be woken up in a _very_ painful way. Sensing his thought, Reborn smirked from the shadow cast by his fedora. _This kid is no doubt his son._ "But it sure was a surprise to find out you had such a tradition, Nanao!"

"What?" Confused, as to what Sasagawa meant Nanao had stopped eating to hear the rest.

"What happened yesterday!" Sasagawa said as if it explained everything, "You didn't tell us your cousin was coming to live with you as well; I would've prepared the spare room as well!"

"What are you talking about? I don't have a-"

"It's been so long since we last seen each other." Reborn cut in, "You were such a tiny kid back then, I supposed you won't recognize me." When he had finally lost his patience; Nanao stood up; eyes never leaving Reborn.

"I don't know you. And I don't intend to _get_ to know you. I want you to leave." _Leave before you hurt them again._

"I won't hurt you or them any longer," Reborn placed a hand on his shoulder, speaking in a softer tone so only he could hear. "not without a purpose; no." Reborn smirked,

"Nanao?" He ignored Yamamoto's concerned looks, Sasagawa's confusion. He just concentrated all his attention to the current threat.

"It's just like how he described you." Reborn suddenly said, unaffected by the tense atmosphere in the room. "You're angry, aren't you?" Nanao pressed his lips together, unwilling to deem the man the reaction he wants. "But one would have to look really hard to be able to tell from your face." The man continued, the smirk never leaving his face. "The complete opposite to your father who was and still is, like an open book." He picked up the fork and began fiddling around with it, thought his eyes were also trained onto Nanao. "I can't say it's a bad thing, but take it too far," He stabbed at the food in front of him before putting whatever he managed to get in his mouth, chewing slowly before swallowing. "And it would be considered unnatural." He finished with a serious expression on his face.

The two of them had settled into the battle involving who would first break the eye contact when the phone in the household rang, giving Reborn one last glare before he walked out of the room to answer it.

"Yes?"

"Oh, Nanao kun?"

"Mama?" Nanao paid careful attention to keep his voice low; he doesn't trust that Reborn as far as he could throw him; which is virtually impossible right now.

"How's Japan? Did you meet new friends?" Kyoko listened and laughed as Nanao began reporting all that has happened leaving out Reborn's appearance,

"They sound like wonderful friends, Nanao kun! I'm so glad! It seems like you're having fun!" Fun isn't exactly what Nanao would call it, but he let his mother have her fun as she starting retelling the panic everyone had when they found out he was gone. "Oh, papa's here! Tsu kun! It's Nanao kun on the line!"

"What! Wah!" Nanao listened as sounds of paper fluttering about followed by a loud noise that suggested something or some_one_ had fallen onto the ground. "Hello? Nanao?"

"I'm here, papa." Nanao sighed; his father's clumsiness is what makes him seem like the weakest of all the previous bosses. But Nanao found that, despite his clumsiness, he still had loyal followers and friends.

"Nanao! Kyoko chan! It's Nanao!" His father seemed to let out a relieved laugh, "H-how are you?" He was about to answer when he heard his mother say, "Tsu kun, you were supposed to scold Nanao kun, remember?" and then a, "Oh." Followed by his father clearing his throat, "That was very irresponsible of you to leave without even leaving a note, and to a foreign country as well, Nanao."

"Papa, it's not very convincing if you scold me after causing such a ruckus over there."

"Oh, cut me some slack, I've been worried sick!" His father whined,

"I thought whining was below a mafia boss, papa." Nanao chuckled, shaking his head at his father's antics but found himself beginning to calm down as he conversed with his father; repeating everything he had told his father, but this time, he including Reborn in the story.

"Ah, yes." His father chuckled nervously, "I am aware of what Reborn's actions were. And trust me when I say I know how painful his assaults were, first-hand experience here. But also trust me when I say he's not a bad guy; despite his sadistic Spartan methods."

"I trust you, papa. I just don't trust him."

"Not yet, perhaps." Tsuna sighed, "But trust isn't built in a day or two. Remember this, will you?"

"Alright."

"Good, I believe I have a floor covered in my incomplete paperwork to tidy up. I know I left you in Reborn's care, but don't be afraid to voice out complaints to him. Though, you'll probably get hit by doing that. I won't be much of a back up though; he _still_ beats me up for talking back at him, and frankly, I'm still scared of him." At this, Nanao chuckled softly. "Take care, Nanao. Be careful, with _everything_." There was a click indicating the line had been cut off, but Nanao remained standing with the receiver in hand. He couldn't shake off the feeling that the last bit was meant as a warning of some sort. He was going to need to be a bit more careful from now on. Returning to the dining room, Nanao immediately notice a missing presence.

"Where is he?"

"Oh? He left when you went to answer the phone." Although it seemed suspicious Nanao chose to ignore it.

"Let's eat then!" Yamamoto invited cheerfully. Nanao noted that both Sasagawa and Yamamoto seemed to have bounced back to their usual self, mentally nodding at this observation he sat down and started eating.

[]

"Reborn san." A voice greeted him from the shadows, appearing in front of him soon after. "How is-"

"Awake and lively." Reborn waved the other's concerns off, "Rather, I'm surprised you didn't intervene back there." The other seemed to hesitate momentarily before responding,

"I had orders to not do anything against your actions, however suspicious they are." The last was said in a way that indicated that although he had stayed out of it, he didn't like what Reborn had done either. Reborn found himself not disliking his honesty.

"Well, keep up with the good work." He said instead before walking out of the garden and into the street. While he had no complaints on Nanao's physical abilities like he had with Tsuna, Nanao's lack of social skills were troubling. _Like father like son._ Both were troublesome, and this time, unlike Tsuna whom he just had to train him physically; with Nanao, it was going to be a bit more difficult. _I have a lot of business to take care of first._

[TO BE CONTINUED]


	2. Chapter 2

2.

There was a moment of shuffling before Nanao barely made way for the foot coming down and aiming straight for his abdomen,

"Can you _not_ do that every morning?"Nanao huffed, his heart still beating rather quickly from the suddenness of the morning's event.

"It's become a habit." Reborn responded nonchalantly with a one shoulder shrug,

"It's only _7am_," He told Reborn, but nonetheless begun shuffling to the end of the bed to get off but also to avoid being in close proximity with said man. "I've still got time."

"I know." Reborn simply replied, "I just felt like waking you up early." Nanao took a moment to silently scowl at the older man before exiting his room and making his way downstairs. He walked into the chilled kitchen and found what he was looking for in the fridge,

"It used to be quite lively in here." He heard Reborn murmur quietly, there was a touch of nostalgia in those words that managed to pull Nanao's attention from his daily dose of milk to Reborn. The older man stood by the door; his side leaning against the door frame with his arms crossed all the while there was an unreadable expression on his face.

"Is that so?" Nanao returned awkwardly, at times like this; he hardly knows the right words to respond to such emotions.

"...Mm." Reborn hummed quietly, still standing by the door while he uncrossed his arms and pointed to a chair. "There used to sit an annoying cow," Nanao raised a brow, "And there," Reborn pointed next, "A little shy one would sit beside him, and they would fight as to who gets the food." Unsure what to do or say, Nanao simply leaned back against the fridge and let the other continue, "Fuuta, Bianchi, Mama, Tsuna and finally," He walked up to a seat where a pile of cushions piled up, "my spot." Reborn finished with a smirk. Nanao simply cocked his head to a side,

"That's a lot."

"Yes." Reborn smirk widened,

"No." Nanao said as he placed his glass of finished milk down on the sink table,

"I haven't said anything yet."

"Whatever is it," Nanao folded his arms, "I don't want to be included in your scheming anymore than I already am." Reborn chuckled, patting the cushions before leaving Nanao in the kitchen by himself. "Don't be to late class." He called back before leaving the house.

[]

On his way out of the house, Nanao heard shuffling in the shadows but failed to pinpoint his stalker's location. _Great, first a phsycho home tutor, now a stalker._ He thought to himself, forcing himself to ignore the growing unease. If he can't pinpoint hid stalker, then either it is because whoever it is has no intention of causing harm, yet, or the person was just that good at hiding his presence. He doubt it was the latter though, otherwise Nanao wouldn't have been able to notice him. On his way to school, he managed to meet with both Yamamoto and Sasagawa. They both greeted him wholeheartedly; it was beginning to scare him as he realized he was getting used to having the two around him lately.

"I've found you, newbie!" _Perhaps, not this one though_. He thought to himself,

"Oh! Hyuuga senpai! Good morning!"

"Good morning to you too, Yamamoto! Oh! Sasagawa!"

"Good morning!" Sasagawa greeted with a wide grin.

"Say, newbie," Hyuuga wrapped an arm around his shoulders, "how about another round with the baseball club?"

"No thank you."

"Ah, senpai, Nanao is still recovering from-"

"Ah!" Yamamoto cut in, stopping Sasagawa.

"Recovering? What's wrong, Nanao?" Hyuuga asked, all his active cheerfulness gone and replaced by a concerned look.

"Leg injury." Nanao lied, "Slipped and rolled down the stairs back at my place." The look of surprise and disbelief from both Yamamoto and Sasagawa was enough amusement for Nanso to forgive Sasagawa's slip of a mouth.

"I see," Hyuuga said thoughtfully and suspiciously quiet before returning to his usual self, "Clumsy, are we? Well, we can't have you aggravating your injuries now, can we? You got to take more care of yourself, newbie!" Nanao merely nodded before watching Hyuuga returning to the group that were waiting for him,

"Did we manage to fool him?" Yamamoto asked,

"Sorry! It was supposed to be secret?"

"It's not everyday you get a relative from overseas beating you up like that guy did." Yamamoto explained, "Most would see it as abuse." Sasagawa's mouth, having taken a moment to absorb the explanation, formed an 'o' before closing it with a pop. Shaking his head, Nanao continued walking to his class, with one single thought in mind. _He didn't believe my explanation. _Hyuuga was a guy to look out for; he was a little too sharp for Nanao's liking.

Finally arriving at his designated destination, Nanao literally sunk into his seat. If everyday is going to be like this, he would rather be back in Italy.

"Attention brats!" The teacher slammed the file down on the table, shouted out to get attention and finally getting everyone's attention by scratching his nails against the blackboard behind him. _If I go deaf because of this_, Nanao thought to himself as he rubbed his poor ears; _I'm going to sue this guy._ "Great, now that I have your attention, I would like to introduce _another_ transfer student, Fiou Dante. Be nice, and as always, if you bully the new kid; _I_ will bully you next. Understand? Good. Your seat is over there; introduce yourself to your classmates before heading there, though." Fiou Dante nodded, before his silent grey eyes briefly scanned the room and landing eye contact with Nanao before moving away. It was done smoothly enough that another would think nothing of it, but Nanao thought differently.

"Fiou Dante. Please to meet you." _There's a slight accent to his Japanese_, Nanao noticed, _Fiou... Dante... Italian origin?_

[]

"Wha-!" Gokudera exclaimed, "Tenth! Forgive my impudence but... Of all people, you sent someone from there?" Tsuna winced guiltily, knowing Gokudera was right there. But...

"_Aho_dera is right on that," Lambo added in, "despite your ongoing efforts that have been paying off in the years; I still find their actions incomprehensible and illogical. Can we trust someone from that group to act as Nanao's guard?"

"I don't know." Tsuna replied honestly, "But I trust Reborn." Hearing that, there were no more questions, although the atmosphere continued to stay tense and weary.

"If we're done here, then I'm leaving." Hibari decided after a while,

"Thanks for coming, Hibari san."

"Hm."

"Why was he here anyway?" Lambo mumbled, taking a spot next to Tsuna's chair on the floor as he leaned against his leg. Tsuna smiled affectionately at that, it seems even age cannot change the spoilt habit of his youngeest guardian.

"Hibrai san is part of our famiglia." He found himself running his fingers through Lambo's hair as he answered the young guardian, to which the other hummed approvingly; tilting his head for Tsuna to get better access. "He will be included in all our meetings." _Whether he turns up or not is a differeny story._ Tsuna mentally thought to himself, shaking his head at the aloof guardian's antics.

"It seems we have no choice but to wait thing out." Gokudera said, brushing his bangs away from his face before excusing himself from the room.

"Shouldn't you be somewhere else now, though, Lambo?" Tsuna asked, trying to sound disapproving.

"I'd rather stay here." The child mumbled, rubbing his cheek affectionately against Tsuna's leg.

"Would you _stop_ that? It gets gross when a full grown man does that!" Gokudera exclaimed and moved over to attempt to disengage Lambo from Tsuna's leg.

"Stop being jealous, _aho_dera! It's unsightly!"

Sighing, Tsuna decided it was fine to leave the young guardian before turning back to the file staring innocently back, he gave out a sigh as he picked up the photograph from it. Sharp gray eyes stared back at him, and he wondered what Reborn was planning to accomplish from this.

[]

It had become a habit of his to come to this rooftop whenever he wanted to be away from the constantly active two. He was beginning to feel that perhaps they were actually sucking the stored energy in him resulting in them being overly energetic; it honestly feels like they have an unlimited supply of energy source in them.

"How long are you planning on observing me from afar?" He sighed as he lay down on his back to enjoy the cool breeze that seemed to lull him to sleep.

"Apologies. But-"

"Do as you like. I came up here for some quiet time, as long as you don't prevent me from doing so, you're free to do as you like."

"Thank you." Fiou Dante found a spot next to Nanao before sitting down on the side closest to the door to the stairs, _as if on guard duty,_ Nanao duly noted before letting himself close his eyes.

"Oh, so this is where you hide." A quiet voice notified another presence along with Fiou Dante,

"No wonder we couldn't find him." Another said, "Who's this?"

"Oh, this is the new transfer student. Fiou Dante, was it?" Nanao didn't hear a reply, but a brief shuffle of clothing suggested the othet had nodded instead. "Can we join?" Nanao found it strange that Yamamoto would ask such a question; normally he'd just help himself. Opening one eye explained Yamamoto's strange behavior. Fiou Dante had placed himself between Nanao and the door; blocking his view of the door and thus blocking others from approaching without his consent. Despite the strange behavior of Fiou Dante, Nanao found his presence oddly unthreatening; so he decided to leave it at that.

"Yamamoto, Sasagawa." He found himself saying as he made a move to get up before realising someone was also aiding him, looking up to meet a pair of gray eyes he nodded his thanks. He was still sore from bruises, "What are you doing here?"

"We couldn't find you," Yamamoto grinned, "and this is the last place we haven't checked." Sensing the friendly atmosphere, Fiou Dante finally moved aside; although managing to stay close by without giving off the feeling of intrusion.

"Fiou," Nanao called out before the other moved too far off, "might as well join us. If I can handle those two, I have a feeling I can handle pretty much everyone else." Despite the harshness of his words, even to his ears it sounded somewhat affectionate. The slight smirk on the other proved his idle thoughts correct, and Nanao found himself cursing the existence of whoever was watching this and enjoying it.

"Dante is fine." He heard the other say as he lay back down, he didn't, however, notice the barest existence of a smile before he fell asleep again.

He was later woken up by the sound of the school bell, soon after shaken up by Sasagawa before he thought he heard a quiet low growl from his side. Finally opening his eyes, he glanced to his side with the sight of Dante glaring daggers at the energetic boxing club captain,

"Do not shake him so roughly." Dante growled out,

"Whoa," Sasagawa let go before lifting both his hands in the air, "Chill, brother. Nanao's not made out of glass, you know?" Dante remained hostile even as Yamamoto cut in,

"Why don't we all calm down, it's time for class anyway, hm?"

"Dante." And that was all it took; one word, and Dante had calmed down immediately. Somewhere in Nanao's carefully concealed mischievous personality, Nanao merely saw this as a dog going from being a provoked and thus agitated dog to a docile puppy.

An unfamiliar sound reached the three, momentarily distracting them from their increasingly heated discussion to Nanao's quiet chuckle. The three of them blinked first out of confusion slowly turning into shock, then amusement. The smaller teen finally stopped as he glanced at each of them in turn, confused as to why they were staring.

"What is it?" He finally asked after a moment.

"No, nothing." Yamamoto grinned, "Just didn't know you could laugh like that."

"I wasn't laughing." Nanao returned stubbornly.

"Right, how about we head to class now?" Yamamoto waved off Nanao's protest, dragging a confused Sasagawa along; who is probably stuck between continuing his argument with Dante or to continue staring at Nanao. "Come on, senpai. We're going to be late to class."

"Wait, wha-" Sasagawa managed to say before he was pulled away by the baseball prodigy. Left alone, Nanao noticed Dante visibly relaxing.

"They mean no harm." He found himself defending the two, "A tad too energetic, but harmless nonetheless." At Dante's still distrusting look, Nanao sighed and gave the other an awkward pat on the arm. "So relax." He said to the taller male,

"Yes." Dante hesitantly nodded, following Nanao towards the stairs as they both headed back to their classroom.

Observing from afar, Reborn found himself liking how the gears are beginning tp interlock with each other.

"Sawada Nanao," He smirked, "you are of no doubt, boss material. Worthy of the title; Vongola Undicesimo."

A sudden cold chill sent a full body shiver down Nanao pulling his attention from doodling on his notes to glancing outside to the school grounds. Something heavy soon landed on his shoulders and he turned to see Dante had placeed his blazer around him thinking the shiver was due to him feeling cold, too lazy to contradict the thoughful action; Nanao merely nodded his thanks, ignoring the fact that his own blazer was drapped innocently behind him on the seat he was on. The class continued unaware of everything that had just happened, and Nanao went back to his doodling; though unable to shake off the feeling that he was not going to like the cause behind that shiver.

"Are you alright, Nanao?" Yamamoto surprised by asking,

"Why do you ask?" Nanao drawled back, hiding his surprise.

"You're wearing a blazer while holding another." The other simply replied, Nanao sighed. He had tried to return the blazer to Dante, but the other had somehow disppeared during the class and he was unable to locate him after that. This meant he had to take it home with him, and return it the next day.

"It's Dante's. He thought I was cold during class and let me use his blazer."

"Oh, how thoughtful of him." Yamamoto responded, though a biy awkwardly. He too, had noticed that Nanao had his own to use if he had been cold. "So where is he now?"

"I don't know I couldn't find him on the school grounds."

"Ah." Yamamoto hummed thoughtfully before shrugging off the topic.

"Where's Sasagawa?"

"Hm?" Yamamoto stretched his arms before looking thoughtful, "I think I remember him saying something about club activities." Nanao took a moment to try and recall the memory,

"Oh." There was a vague memory of the other saying that, he supposed. "What about your club?" He asked, curious as to why the other never seem to have afterschool club activites.

"I'll be going to it soon." Yamamoto shruged, stopping Nanao from his walking.

"You're putting off practice to walk me home?" At the other's avoidance in eye contact, Nanao frowned. "I don't need a bodyguard," He told him, "Go back to practice."

"But Hyuuga senpai gave me the thumbs up for it." Yamamoto argued weakly,

"Yamamoto."

"Oh, fine." Yamamoto grinned; Nanao could tell the other didn't like skipping practice either. "I'll see you tomorrow, Nanao!"

"Mm." He waved the other off in a shooing motion, to which other simply grinned wider before giving a big wave and running off. Nanao sighed and shook his head, turning to continue his path that lead to his home.

"You're early." The deep masculine voice greeted him the moment he unlocked the door.

"Well, hello to you too." Nanao rolled his eyes,

"Useless greetings are below me. Why are you back so early?" Reborn scoffed,

"Because I choose to be." Nanao returned,

"Smartmouth brat." He heard Reborn mumble as he walked pass the other, "I'm assuming you didn't join in any clubs." He said louder,

"Why would I? Club activities do nothong but tire me out." Reborn said nothing to that comment and Nanao assumed the other silently agreed.

"Very well." The other's easygoing attitude surprised Nanao, and he became immediately weary.

"What is it?" He asked, backing away from the advancing adult.

"What do you mean?" Reborn gave him a crooked smirk, head cocked to a side feining innocence.

"What are you scheming now?" Nanao returned cooly, if a bit wearily. _Like father, like son._ Reborn thought,

"How uncouth of you to think so poorly of your own home tutor." Reborn all but purred, continuing his slow advancement towards Nanao, who had practically plastered himself against the wall he had walked into.

"It's not uncouth if I'm right." Nanao returned, sliding towards a side in order to escape from the advancing predator, only to have his attempt get blocked by a single leg as Reborn slammed his foot on the wall to Nanao's side.

"If you're so free," Reborn started a crooked smirk on his face. "Then perhaps it is time to begin your training."

"I told you," Nanao began, "I'm not going to do as you say, like a submissive puppy." Reborn cocked his head to a side,

"Who said anything about subservience?" Nanao simply glared as the other continued, "But I do expect you to obey me."

"Do enlighten me by explaining to me the difference." Nanao drawled.

"I could." Reborn returned, not missing a beat. "But I won't."

"Why won't you leave me alone?" Nanao asked instead,

"Why?" Reborn backed off as he adjusted his suit, "Figure it out by yourself. You're not stupid enough to not know the answer to that." He said, leaving Nanao alone; acting like a child who had became bored of his toy. "Prove your worth to me, Nanao." This was the last thing he said before Nanao heard the door close, indicating the man had left the household.

"Why would I?" He must I complicate my life like so by doing that? _It's illogical. _

"My report ends here." Reborn felt like kicking something or someone, preferably Nanao. He had made little to no progress. Waving off the male in front of him, he crossed his legs and started planning. _It seems he is in need of a harder push than I had originally planned for him_. He thought before disppearing into the shadows.

[]

Tsuna received another worrisome letter from Reborn that briefly, and he means _briefly, _explaining his plans in regards to Nanao. At Reborn's detailed observations on Nanao, Tsuna knew it was necessary. But he was a father of Nanao, and he didn't like the idea of exposing his son to any sort of danger if he could help it. For now, he could only silently watch over his son like so.

"Boss," A voice came from the intercom, Giannini. "You have a call from Japan. Someone whom have been indetified as Yamamoto Takeshi." Tsuna was quick to answer,

"Connect me to the line please, Giannini."

"Yes, boss." Giannini responded and a click soon followed indicating that he'd been connected.

"Yamamoto?"

"Ah, Tsuna." The familiar voice answered,

"What's wrong?" There was moment of hesitation,

"Uh, nothing's wrong. I called to receive your nod of a head." The rain guardian replied softly,

"What do you mean?"

"I'm aware you left everything to Reborn to handle, but I felt that I should hear it from you directly anyway."

"So you're aware of his plans." Tsuna concluded.

"Yes, he just left my place after explaining everything." Yamamoto answered.

"I see. I don't have much control over Reborn's actions but, what is your opinion on it?"

"Uh." Yamamoto cleared his throat, "I understand it's a necessay step to take if Nanao is as he had described to me. But I do think it may prove difficulty to Nanao right now." Tsuna nodded to himself, "I'll keep an eye out for him, Sasagawa will too."

"Thanks, Yamamoto." After a brief conversation, both sides hung up. _Hang in there, Nanao._

[]

_How dull._ Reborn thought to himself, after leaving Nanao alone; he had gone to talk to both Yamamoto Takeshi and Sasagawa Ryohei in regards to what to do with Nanao, and received two hesitant nods. It didn't bother him, but coming back to see Nanao continuing his usual routine of lazing around was not something he wanted to see. He had purposely provoked the child, to see if he could set alight the small flickering flame he had seen on the first day. This strengthened his resolve to follow his plan. In order to build up that small shitty flame of Nanao's, instead of piling wood on top of it; risking to smother what little they had, Reborn was going for a gentle but also effective; breeze.

[]

Upon entering the school grounds, Nanao noticed something was off this morning. The students seemed more tense and agitated, there was a clearly something wrong as he noticed the tremble in the voices of the group of girls he passed by. Catching the word; molester. Giving him no time to fully comprehend the situation, Sasagawa Yuuji's voice prevented him from doing so.

"A classmate of mine said she got molested yesterday!" He told Yamamoto, fist pumping into the air. "Unforgivable!" He shouted, "Shameless!"

"Well," Yamamoto began, "Let's calm down first, shall we?"

"How could I?" Sasagawa returned, "I won't stand by while a classmate of mine is crying from the shock!"

"And I'm not telling you to do so." Yamamoto told him, "First we need to calm down before we decide what to do." Finally, the boxing club captain decided to take Yamamoto's advice and took three deep breaths to calm himself down.

"Right, what should we do?"

"How about heading to class?" A voice interrupted them before Yamamoto could respond.

"Urahara sensei!"

"Leave this to the teachers and the Disciplinary Committee to deal with the matter. Now shoo! Off to class, you rascals."

"But-"

"No buts go on. You too, Sawada."

Failing to make it in time to escape home, Nanao found himself dragged to his favourite quiet spot on the rooftop by Sasagawa, accompanied by Yamamoto; Dante following close by.

"We need a plan." Sasagawa started gravely,

"The teachers and the disciplinary committee are on the move, Sasagawa." Nanao drawled, "We will just get in the way."

"Well, they're not moving fast enough!" Sasagawa stubbornly said, "This has been going on for weeks, and a student from our school has finally been attacked! This shameless bastard is letting this get to his head!"

"He's right, Nanao." Yamamoto said, "I didn't think to mention it to you since no one from our school had been attacked up until now but,"He added," We simply can't do anything about this."

"We are," Nanao told them, "by staying out of the way."

"Nanao..."

"I don't plan on involving myself in this matter," Nanao cut him off as he stood up; "the two of you may do as you like."

Reborn was already waiting for him at the entrance hall when he got home; Nanao merely nodded a silent greetinf before starting to head back to his room.

"You're just going to let them do this alone?" Reborn asked and Nanao paused.

"I don't have control over their actions, and I don't plan on so." He simply returned.

"Perhaps not." Reborn crossed his arms as he leaned back against the wall, "But even they won't be able to stand a chance against a full grown adult."

"What are you trying to imply? And why do you care?" Nanao turned his head to Reborn, eyes observing the other.

"_I_ don't." Reborn replied with a smirk before placing on his fedora. "I will be late tonight. Don't stay up late waiting." _As if_, he thoguht to himself even though Reborn had already left. Nanao huffed out irritably, continuing to return to his room before he was stopped. He'd just got there when his cell started to ring,

"What is it?" He drawled,

"Sawada sama." A familiar voice came through and Nanao identified the owner as Dante.

"Don't call me that. Nanao is fine." Nanao sighed, "What is it?" He asked again.

"Your friends," Dante muttered out the word friend awkwadly, as if unfamiliar with it. "They are injured."

Nanao didn't rush, no. He refused to admit to such weakness. But he couldn't erase the fact that he was out of breath,

"Where?" He managed out, knowing it was Dante arriving by his side.

"This way." The cool voice responded, leading him to a direction.

"N-Nanao?" Yamamoto began as Sasagawa bristled, most likely still holding a grudge of him walking away. But Nanao ignored the both of them, his eyes briefly scanned the bandages around them; quickly deducting the severity of their injuries as he walked towards the bed Yamamoto was on even as the other began backing away. "We didn't get in the way," Yamamoto began to explain nervously, "We were just trailing behind the man and suddenly we were-"

"Idiotic baboons." Nanao cut in, flicking him on the forehead; hard. He continued after walking up to Sasagawa and repeating the same thing, "Foolish muscle-heads." As he waited for the two to recover from the addition pain inflicted on them, he caught a small smile on Dante from the corner of his eye. "What were you thinking? Were you thinking at all?"

"We were attacked out of nowhere!" Sasagawa exclaimed, "I wanted to show you that you were wrong in saying that we would get in the way! So we decided to follow the suspicious looking man, and then we got attacked from behind!" Nanao turned to Sasagawa, successfully shutting the other up.

"That proves I was not wrong, Sasagawa." It surprised him on how cold he sounded, he felt anger boiling in him; but it was not directed at the two. He took a moment to even out his emotions before continuing, softening his tone a bit. "The two of you will stay here and recover. Do something reckless like this again and I will personally eradicate the two of you from the face of earth." He told the two before turning to leave the room.

"Nanao?" Yamamoto blinked, "Where are you-"

"Home." Nanao cut the other, stepping out the room without a backward glance; Dante following close behind. "H-Hey, did he just-" Sasagawa fumbled with his words as his mouth failed to keep up with his brain and his brain unable to keep up with the situation.

"I think so." Yamamoto answered.

"Nanao sam-" There was a pause before Dante started again. "Nanao san."

"Mm?" Nanao answered, but not looking away.

"Forgive my impudence," Dante began, hesitantly. "But what might you be doing here?"

"An eye for an eye," He said as the corner of Nanao's lips twitched upwards, "a tooth for a tooth." He finished.

"I'm afraid I don't understand." Dante bent down as well, keeping close.

"I'm stalking the molester." He replied, as if that explained everything. His eyes trained on the suspicious looking male as the other began to edge closer to the girl in her school uniform.

"Yes." Dante shifted uncomfortably, "Might I ask what you intend to achieve by doing so?"

"I failed to notice before," Nanao shrugged, "but it seems I've been piling up my frustrations recently and I've found just the person to direct them to."

"Is assistance required?" Danta asked; nodding before backing away to observe from afar at Nanao's shakke of his head. _He didn't seem like it at first,_ his father had told him _and onlywhen it came down to protecting those he cared, that he becomes truly strong. For now, you will observe and decide yourself._ He continued, _Whether or not this son of his, is worthy of your loyalty._

One slender finger tapped impatiently against surface of the table; although he kept his outer appearance blank.

"He's late." Reborn decided as he glanced at the clock for what seemed like the hundredth time in the hour; then, as if on que, the door to the household opened and Reborn found himself moving towards the door without him realizing until he was already there. "You're late."

Nanao mentally rolled his eyes as de ja vu came back to him with vengance, now if only he weren't too tired to do so.

"And what's with you?" Reborn continued his interrogation, while looking raising a brow at him. Covered in mud and injuries, he noted how Nanao twitched at his observation.

"Decided to roll in mud." Nanao drawled sarcastically; the brow remained raised even as a smirk curved on Reborn's lips.

"Is that so?" He hummed, approaching Nanao slowly. "Sounds like you had fun."

"You bet." Nanao shuffled to a side, trying to put distance between the two of them. Reborn simply slid a step closer,

"Tell me all about it."

"I didn't know you were that interested in rolling in mud, you know what; next time, I'll invite you along." Nanao taking a corresponding step back,

"How considerate of you." Reborn cocked his head, the smirk never leaving his face as he took another step forward; his smirk widening a fraction more as he watched Nanao take another back.

"Anything for you." Nanao said as he subtly felt for the door knob, keeping his face neutral when he did. Building up every ounce of energy he has left to make a quick escape,

"_Anything_?" Reborn murmured, resting a hand on the shoe cupboard to lean forward towards Nanao.

"Well, not _anything_ per se." He swallowed, "But you get the gist, right?"

"Oh, I don't know. Do humor me, Nanao." Reborn all but purred beside Nanao's ear, and that was when he decided it was probably best for his wellbeing to bolt for his life; slamming into Reborn's face with the door as he opened it and ran for dear life. Even from the distance he'd covered in that short while, he heard Reborn curse and could only imagine a demon, and a very one one at that, coming after him in full speed. Nanao mentally calculated his chances on outrunning the man when he decided he was fooling himself. Whether it came down to experience, height, power and most probably intelligence; he had no chance against the man, when it came to a fair chance, that is. _Who said one couldn't cheat when running away for dear life?_ Nanao smirked as he turned the corner, and as far as he could tell; Reborn was still got on his heels.

As soon as Reborn had turned at the corner, he found himself facing a dead end and a brick wall staring back innocently at him; but no sign of Nanao. He glanced about; in case Nanao was nearby, ready to ambush him. But there was no one in sight; much less a presence. _Interesting_, he thought to himself even as a smirk curved on his lips. _He's nearby, _Reborn remained standing there, not moving an inch as he closed his eyes and concentrated. Heightening all his sense save his sight, after all, eyes can be _quite_ deceiving.

Nanao knew it was too early to celebrate. He knew this immediately, when Reborn had refused to move from his position and instead looked like he was concentrating. His fedora shadowed his face, hiding his eyes; but Nanao knew that he had his eyes closed, trying to seek him out. _He knows I'm still here..._ Nanao paled at the thought, forcing himself to be as still as possible. But _damn_, his injuries were hurting him. He was vaguely aware of the but on his side when it was inflicted on him, but at that time he was much too hung up on what he was doing to pay much attention to it and now he regretted it as he noticed Reborn sniff the air and suddenly turn his head towards him. He should've run, but Nanao found it impossible. He found himself staring into the eyes of a predator; there was a smirk on Reborn's face as the other began advancing towards him. It was only until Reborn was barely a metre away when his muscles finally decided to unlock and instincts had him making a dash for it. An arm reached out and with practiced precision; caught his biceps before he got far, though. Now back into the brick wall, Nanao swallowed as his eyes took in the cracked lip on Reborn's face. _Must have been the door._ He thought to himself, swallowing back a smile and reminded himself that he was now in the mercy of the guy he had slammed the door into. That helped put a damper on things, _a lot._

"Now," Reborn leaned back a little, giving Nanao _some_ space. "Are you going to tell me about those injuries, or are you going to make up another ridiculous lie?"  
>"So you knew I was lying, huh." Nanao grinned,<p>

"Lies smell." Reborn replied, simply as he folded his arms across his chest; slamming a foot to the side of Nanao when he tried to move, as a warning, and a final one too. "And you were covered in that stench ever since you opened your mouth."

"Har har." Nanao looked away awkwardly, "It's not like you haven't been lying to me too."

"I haven't." Reborn responded without a pause, "Lies are beneath me. I've just been avoiding in telling you the truth."

"Right, because that's not the same as lying." Nanao grumbled,

"It not." A single finger poked his cheek, painfully. "Now, start talking. My patience is thin, right now. Don't bother running away. This time, I will not be so lenient." Nanao could tell he was telling the truth here. If anything, Reborn's threats are _real._ He noted to self that if he ever becomes Reborn's enemy, he'd kill himself first before the other gets to him.

"A fight." Nanao mumbled out,

"With?"

"Some guy." A gun was out and cold metal pressed into his jaw painfully before Reborn spoke again,

"Details, please, Nanao. _Elaborate._" Nanao raised a brow in return, undisturbed by the gun pointed to his jaw as he folded his arms.

"It's going to be long." Reborn's brow twitched, Nanao could literally see Reborn's patience metre dropping and resisted to smirk. Oh how he loved riling the other up.

"Speak, now." Even with his patience running low, Reborn's features remained blank and although his voice was cold and hard enough to cut, it was quiet. Nanao shivered a little, was he wearing too little clothing? He wondered for a while as he glanced up at the sky above them, it was barely dark but he was already beginning to feel the chill. His legs felt weak and his body refused to stop shaking and Nanao was barely aware that he was falling until a pair of arms caught him; Nanao caught the sight of red on the floor before finally registering what was going on and remembering the cut to his side again. _Oh,_ he thought.

[]

Dante had almost fallen off the tree from where he had been observing Nanao's home when said boy came bursting through the door. What happened next was one of the most horrifying yet amusing events that he would be storing at the back of his mind, only occasionally bringing it back out for amusement, as he watched the door to the household slam into the face of the world's best and strongest hitman. He silently commended Nanao on such achievement, but at the same time he feared for said boy's life. This was something he shouldn't stick his nose into, he told himself as he pressed his hands together in a prayer; wondering how he should report back to the boss on the horrible death of his son.

"_Nanao san, are you certain this is a good idea?"_

"_Quiet, Dante." Nanao lifted a finger to silence him, "You stay here in case something unexpected happens."_

"_But, Nanao san, I would like to help too." Dante had panicked, Nanao had refused him. Refused to let him help, did he not need him? Is he not needed? _

"_Relax, Dante." A hand was placed on his shoulder, the warmth from it slowly spread from Nanao's hand to his shoulder; effectively calming him down. "I need you to stay here, as back up. If anything happens, use your own judgement to step in." Dante blinked at that, "Can you do that for me?"The nod in response was between hesitant and enthusiastic. Hesitant to let Nanao go out there and face the obviously taller male but enthusiastic that he had allowed him to help; to watch his back. There is no greater honour than that. "Alright, I'm heading out now." Dante watched closely as Nanao approached the man fearlessly and so _openly!_ He wanted to jump out already, but forced himself to calm down. Nanao was no idiot. He must know what he is doing. _

"_Hey you." The male turned around, "Yes, you." Nanao gestured him to come closer with a single finger, _

"_What is i-" There was no chance for the other to finish as Nanao stuffed something in front of his face, _

"_Is this yours?" The male backed up a bit so he wasn't looking at the object cross eyed, _

"_Yes." He responded, "Why do you have it?"Though he tried to sound threatening, the question came out shaky. _

"_Do you remember seeing these two students?" Nanao then took out two photographs, _

"_N-no, I don't." There was a moment of silence as Nanao continued to stare at the other, unmoving. _

"_I see." He finally said as he stuffed the two pictures into his pocket. Dante wanted to tell Nanao that it was obvious the male was lying when Nanao's fist landed contact on the jaw of the taller male, sending him to the concrete floor._

"_What the fuck was that for?" The taller male shouted and Dante almost winced at the sound. His own fist tightening at the insolence he was showing towards Nanao when said boy's foot shot out and landed heavily on the windpipe of the other, causing him to choke and struggle until Nanao lightened the pressure. The male wheezed, trying to catch his breath._

"_The punch was for lying." Nanao began, his voice calm but Dante shivered at the cool tone he was using. "This," He increased the pressure on his foot for a few moments before lightening it again, "is just the beginning for hurting my friends." Dante duly noted how the two now lying in hospital would be ecstatic to hear that."And this," Nanao smiled as he grabbed out a pair of handcuffs from his pocket, Dante took a brief moment to wonder where he had got his hands on such things before turning his attention back to Nanao. "Is for your disgusting habit of molesting girls."_

"_W-wait!" The male raised both his hands in front of him, waving them. "I-I admit to the first two! But the last is most definitely not me! I-I swear!" At this Nanao paused for a moment, _

"_Not... you?" _

"_Y-Yes!"_

"_Then what were you trying to do with the girl back at the cafe, I saw you reach a hand towards her."_

"_You were stalking me back there as well?" He managed out before barely dodging his head to a side to avoid the fist coming straight for his nose, _

"_I was most definitely _not_ stalking you."_

"_Well," The other started, the previous fear already seeming to fade. "An unwanted attention towards myself and not only that you had followed me all the way here; excuse me for misinterpreting the meaning of the word 'stalking'." Dante raised a brow, his lips twitched upward for the briefest moment before pinching himself. He heard Nanao sigh and a shuffling sound of the movement of clothing indicated that Nanao had removed his foot from the other. "But man, you're tough for a small kid." The male said as he dusted himself, Dante wondered where that fear had all gone to. _

"_If you are not the molester, then I have finished my business with you."_

"_Wait kiddo." Nanao paused before turning his head towards the other, "I was actually looking for this molester as well. I was at the cafe because that was where most of the incidents had happened. The reason I reached out to the girl was because her skirt was too high." Silence followed as the other finished his definition of an explanation, Dante mentally sighed as Nanao began making a move to handcuff the other again. "Wait! That's not what I mean! Let me finish! Her skirt was too high so was trying to pull it down."_

"_You are doing nothing but solidifying my belief in you being a molester." Nanao told him, _

"_Wait! It was riding up! All I had to do was to pull it down a bit more! And why on earth will I molest my own sister!" That made Nanao pause, _

"_Your sister?" Finally, the other sighed in relief, _

"_Yes. I got to the cafe and found her there, apparently she wanted to find out who this molester was too and was using herself as bait. When I told her the molester would rather go for a hippopotamus than her, this is what happened." He turned his face to show the other side of his face to show a painful looking handprint. _

"_I'd say it was a much deserved punishment." Nanao ruthlessly responded, _

"_She wouldn't have gone home if I had not said that." The other grinned, "I'm Yun, by the way." Nanao remained silent for a while as he observed the other, Yun, before he sighed and slapped away the hand extended to him. _

"_Nanao." _

"_Hm." Yun hummed thoughtfully, "How is it spelt in kanji?"  
>"It doesn't really matter, does it?" Yun shrugged before grinning, <em>

"_I guess not. What about your friend over there?" Dante did a double take at that, it was unusual for one to notice him, especially not when he was already trying to hide his presence. Nanao seemed to think the same too, but hid his surprise better than Dante. _

"_Dante." He called out, "You may come out here now."_

Although Nanao had agreed to let Yun in his plans to capture the molester, Dante kept a cautious eye on the other; making sure to keep Yun separated from Nanao, in case he decides to do anything funny. He had been so hung up on keeping Yun away from Nanao; he failed to notice the presence of other unwanted attention. It had already been too late as he watched Nanao collapse onto the floor, a dagger to his side. Dante bit the inside of his cheeks; frustration coming back at him as he remembered how helpless and useless he was, unable to even protect Nanao.

"_Nanao!" Yun was already beside Nanao knelt down to carefully pick up the smaller body. It only took a moment for Dante to chase down the enemy, only spending a brief moment to kill the other and a while more as he threw him into the river; allowing the now limp body to sink to the bottom. He will deal with the body later, right now; Nanao was more important. "Where were you just now?" Yun asked, _

"_Nanao sama." Dante knelt beside Nanao, "Nanao sam-"_

"_I thought I told you not to call me that, Dante." Nanao mumbled out, his voice was pain filled. It made Dante regret killing the assassin so quickly, he should have captured him; tortured him and finally killing him in the most painful way possible._

"_Forgive me, habits are hard to break." At this, Nanao chuckled a little before wincing._

"_Nanao, you alright? Who was that?" Yun asked, his hand pressed tightly to Nanao's side. Dante noticed the dagger had been removed, and the cut was tightly wrapped in a piece of clothing._

"_It's nothing." Nanao forced himself up, raising a hand to stop the two of them from helping. "I'm fine, this is a shallow cut. You should head back home, Yun. It's getting late. You too, Dante."_

"_But-" The both of them began,_

"_I'll be fine." Nanao insisted as he got up on his feet and began walking away, leaving the two of them standing in the middle of the street. _

"_Care to explain what happened to that man?" Yun finally asked when Nanao was out of sight._

"_No." Dante simply responded before bending down to clean the blood off the road. It would be troublesome if someone saw and reported this. Yun, on the other hand, simply sighed and left without another word._

Frustrated and annoyed doesn't even begin to describe how Dante had felt back there. He was supposed to protect him! Yet he had been so occupied with Yun, he had left Nanao get hurt by an enemy. He tried comforting himself by imagining what he could've done to the assassin, the pain filled screams he would made as Dante would ruthlessly continue his torture.

"What are you doing up there?" Reborn asked his hands on his hips as he looked up from where he was standing. Dante took a moment to notice how although Reborn was looking _up_ and he was looking _down_ at him, how Reborn still manages to keep the superior attitude up. "Because I'm that awesome," Reborn answered his thoughts with a huff. "Now are you going to come down or not? My neck is starting to hurt." Startled, Dante quickly hopped off the branch he was on; landing just before Reborn, barely making a sound in the entire process.

"How is Nanao sama?" Reborn sighed,

"He's lost quite a bit of blood. It will take a while to make a full recovery." Dante felt his cheeks warm up,

"My apologies, I was there with him and yet-"

"It's hardly your fault, entirely." Reborn waved him off as he began walking back inside, "It's also his fault for not paying attention, and I wondered why he was so reluctant in telling me how he got the injuries."

"'Because Reborn would just make fun of me', is what Nanao sama has said." Reborn scoffed softly,

"You bet I would. To let yourself get stabbed by an assassin? Ridiculous!" Dante blinked,

"What?"

"No." Dante lifted the door up from the ground, placing it so that it had _some_ resemblance of a 'closed door'. "Nanao sama had thought you would make fun of him for attempting to go after the molester, and not..."

"Hardly for that reason." Reborn sat down in the dining room, "A boss that feels nothing when his subordinates are hurt is not worth my time." He explained as he rested his chin on the back of one of his hand, "Do you know who it was?" Dante found a spot on the carpet as he lowered himself to sit,

"I cannot say for certain, but if the twin serpent tattoo on the assassin's shoulder blade was anything to go by, it'd say it was-"

"Doppia Serpente." Reborn finished darkly, "Those cowardly pests. Did you-" He began, but paused at the expression on Dante's face before smirking. "I'd rather you have left him for me to interrogate, but I suppose there was no helping it. Good job."

"Reborn san, what should we do about that Yun guy?" There was a brief pause as Reborn gave it a just as brief consideration,

"Leave him for now." Dante nodded, thought there was a lot he wanted to say to that; he didn't want to contradict the other in fear of upsetting Reborn anymore than he already is.

"Then I shall excuse myself for today, Reborn san." He made a move to stand when Reborn stood again.

"Spending the night outside again? We have spare rooms here, why not use them?" He asked, looking at Dante directly for the first time since their conversation. "As amusing as it would be, right now I don't want to deal with your father raging on me for letting you catch anything for sleeping outside."

"Reborn san…" Reborn picked up his fedora, placing it snugly on his head before giving him a brief nod.

"I'm heading out now. What is it that they say…? Make yourself home." A look of distaste soon followed and Reborn mentally cringed at his own words. "Just don't destroy anything." He added just before the door closed behind him, leaving Dante along in the hallway. He gave himself a mental shake before he headed up the stairs, as he took his time to choose his room; he noticed one room with the door closed and most likely locked as well with the sign saying: **"Ciaos; enter at your own risk."**

"Oh, this must be Reborn san's room." He continued along and finally reached Nanao's room. The door was opened, so Dante risked a peek inside only to find Nanao resting on the bed and he reminded himself that the other was injured and needed the rest. Although he knew that, he found himself entering quietly and brought a chair nearby to sit next to the bed. He was going to need to become stronger, so that something like this would not happen again; so that he could protect Nanao. "Nanao sama..."

[]

He had always preferred the busy atmosphere that was always present in Namimori, welcomed it, in fact. It was exactly why the moment he had stepped out of the convenient store and into the much too quiet street; that he felt something was off. He couldn't quiet put a finger to it but he remained on guard in case anything comes at him. The molesting incidents had been increasing and he had been on subtle petrol duty for the past few days, he'd increased it ever since he heard Yamamoto and Sasagawa had been attacked while they were trying to catch the molester. He was going to need to be careful here.

"Nanao!" When he caught a familiar name in a distance, he was already rushing towards it before his mind even registered what he was doing. All he knew was the newbie was in this direction and if that panicked tone was anything to go by, Nanao was in trouble. _Please make it; please let me make it on time!_ By the time he had made it there, he saw Nanao on the concrete floor, bleeding with a dagger stuck to his side. He felt an unnatural rage within him and when he wanted to step forward to demand what was going on, the newest transfer student, Fiou Dante, had all but disappeared with a ferocious roar. Now left with Nanao and... What's this, a new companion? He felt his appearance may not be necessary at the moment as he watched the tanned male lift Nanao's body up with the outmost care,

"Nanao..." He called to the pale teen softly, gently brushing Nanao's bangs from his sweaty forehead, "Stay with me, will you, Nanao?" He continued softly, although Hyuuga could make out the tremble in the male's voice as he started bandaging Nanao's side up with a shirt he pulled out of his school bag.

"Ugh." Nanao groaned weakly as the other tightened the shirt up around him,

"Come on, Nanao."

"Yun..." It was barely a whisper, but thanks to the quiet street; it was heard by the both of them.

"…Mm?" The male, Yun, answered as he swiped a thumb across Nanao's brow, wiping away the sweat that gathered there.

"…Dante?"

"I think he went after the guy who attacked you." There was something in his voice that told Hyuuga he also wanted to do the same, and apparently, Nanao thought so too as he lifted a hand with difficulty and placed it on Yun's.

"This is nothing." Apparently not trusting his voice, Yun merely nodded although even observing from behind, Yun all but radiated rage. Hyuuga could understand his feelings, but at the same time, he failed to understand why he _would_ be feeling such emotions. After all, he all but met Nanao a while ago and had no more than 10 minutes conversation with the other.

Dante returned soon after, and Nanao surprised all three of them by sending the two back home, refusing to let them walk him back at all. The twp grudgingly did so, but Hyuuga remained. After all, Nanao only sent those two back home.

He had barely gotten back into hiding when the door to Nanao's home had burst open, followed by two blurry looking figures. One of the blurs, he later found out was Nanao. However, the man in a black suit was someone he didn't recognise. _Must be the cousin Yamamoto mentioned before._ He thought. Although that thought alone would've assured him that he would not harm Nanao, a part of him reminded him that Nanao was injured, the killing intent the man radiated was worrying. He made move to follow but a rustling sound from above stopped him.

"You're... "

[TO BE CONTINUED]


End file.
